August 12, 2014

Steeves tries to explain wife's racism

Gord Steeves holds presser 4 days after wife's racist Facebook comments surfaceWinnipeg mayoral candidate Gord Steeves said his wife's racist comments were made out of fear and anger.

"My wife was scared and she was very angry and she reacted," he told reporters on Tuesday, after starting his press conference with an announcement about zoning. “The comments were not my comments. I support my wife, and I love her and I stand with her, and she made the apology, and I support her.”

The zoning announcement prompted many confused expressions and caused people on Twitter to wonder what Steeves was doing.

He was also heckled by people at Bonnycastle Park, where the press conference was made.And:She has since apologized for the comments, but Steeves took four days to address the matter.

Despite calls for him to drop out of the mayoral race, Steeves said on Tuesday he will not do that.

"I'm a candidate in the mayoralty race but I'm also a husband and a father," he said. "She did something in poor judgment, and she acknowledges that and she apologizes. She is a good, caring, wonderful person, a great mother and a wonderful wife."​

Steeves also said the comments were made after an incident in which “one of the pandhandlers jumped up, put his finger in her face and said words to the effect of, ‘What’s the matter? Don’t you like native men?’”

Comment: Lorrie Steeves may have been scared on the downtown streets. But she went home, logged onto Facebook, and posted a rant about how she's tired of giving handouts to drunk Natives. More to the point, how Natives are lazy bums who need to stop mooching and get a job.

So I'm not sure how her alleged "fear" is an issue. Or her anger, unless you mean her anger against the entire Native population. She's sick of Natives as a whole, not just the few individuals who harassed her. It's a perfect example of racism in action.